Josh Benner

Tag: Elijah

  • Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    John the Baptist is one of the most intriguing people we meet in the gospels. He has a unique role in history as being the forerunner to Christ. In John 1, John the Baptist is being questioned about his identity. He helps clarify who he is by clarifying who he isn’t. 

    Verse 19: And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

    It’s reasonable that they would want to find out who he is. I think it’s important to understand the time in which they lived. For centuries, the Old Testament had pointed forward to one sent from the Lord. 

    People had all sorts of expectations for the type of ministry that this sent one would have. 

    This was fulfilled in Jesus but people didn’t yet know Jesus. So all they had were their expectations and assumptions. What Jesus actually did was not quite what anyone expected. 

    A lot of people expected a great religious teacher. Jesus certainly was that but he was ore than that. But his purpose was to bring freedom not law. 

    A lot of people expected a great king. Jesus is that too, he’s the king of kings. But he did not have the mighty earthly kingdom that people expected. 

    Others expected a great general who would lead Israel to victory and back to a restoration of their land in the face of Roman oppression. Jesus is the one who leads his people to battle evil and leads us to Spiritual victory. 

    And people believed various ideas from those categories. 

    So you suddenly have this man who’s calling people to repent, who’s baptizing. In the other gospels, we see John calling out religious authorities.

    And so people are curious. 

    Maybe he’s connected to the promised savior. Maybe he IS the promised savior. Others might have been skeptical and thought it would lead nowhere. 

    Before Jesus, there had been people who claimed to be the promised savior of the world. 

    Who are you? 

    They ask. 

    The Christ

    John’s first response to the Jewish leaders is given in verse 20: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    First thing John confirms. He is not the savior. 

    One thing that’s important to understand. The word “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It’s his title. Jesus’ parents were not Joseph and Mary Christ. Jesus is The Christ. 

    Christ comes from the Greek word “Christus” which means “anointed.” It’s the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” They both mean the same thing: anointed. 

    The significance of that is that in the Old Testament, various divinely assigned offices such as the king and the high priest would be anointed with oil at the beginning of their term. Some of the Old Testament prophets were also anointed. 

    There are also passages in the Old Testament which were understood as pointing forward to a future deliverer who was anointed. 

    John the Baptist had an important ministry. But he was not the Lord’s anointed, he was not the Lord’s Christ, and so he’s quick to point that out. He’s not the anointed savior. 

    Elijah

    Verse 21: And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

    Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament. Much of his ministry revolved around calling people to faith and proper worship of the Lord. He was obedient to the Lord in his life and ministry. 

    There are several miracles that God does during the time of Elijah’s ministry. Two more things that are noteworthy about Elijah. The Old Testament tells us that God brought Elijah directly to heaven without dying. 

    2 Kings 2:11 

    And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven

    Secondly, the book of Malachi, which is the last book found in our Old Testament concludes with these verses from Malachi 4:5:

    5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

    So God says that he will send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. 

    So some expected a literal second coming of Elijah. For those reasons, it’s a pretty reasonable question for the leaders to have asked this of John. But he tells them no. 

    John is not Elijah however it should be noted that John’s ministry is really fulfilling this prophecy about Elijah. John is not a reincarnated version of Elijah or a second coming of Elijah, but he is the one who is sent from the Lord with a divinely given ministry to call people to repentance. 

    But John confirms that he is not Elijah. So they try again: 

    The Prophet

    Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

    When they ask John if he’s THE prophet, they’re actually referring to a specific passage. Deuteronomy 18:15 tells Israel about a successor to Moses. This passage also came to be understood as pointing to a grater prophet. 

    Verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

    They wonder if John is this person. In reality, that passage is ultimately pointing forward to Jesus. But once again, John answers the question in the negative. He is not the prophet. 

     So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

    John isn’t the Christ, he’s not Elijah, he’s not the prophet. 

    So then who is he? 

    He answers that in the following section.

    Who is John?

    Verse 23: He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said

    They’ve seen who John isn’t. This is who he is. He quotes the text from Isaiah 40. That passage is applied to John in all four gospels. 

    Isaiah 40 is a passage talking of a future time of deliverance for the people of God. It’s an incredibly hopeful passage. It talks of God’s faithfulness to his people in spite of their sin. It talks of God’s restoration. 

    The heart of what this is getting at for John is that his purpose is to call people to repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. And it was John’s job to point us to that messiah.

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  • A long-distance healing. Studying John 4:49-54

    A long-distance healing. Studying John 4:49-54

    In John 4, a Roman official – whose son is seriously ill – comes to Jesus to see what the Lord can do. In the passage, we build up to a miraculous healing that Jesus does. In this sign, Jesus will point back to the Prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. 

    A divine intervention 

    John 4:49 

    The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

    The man is undeterred by the rebuke that Jesus has given.He’s not arguing with the Lord. He’s simply pleading with Jesus to intervene. 

    Keep in mind, that this man is an official of the Roman government. He’s prestigious. We see the humility that he shows to Christ. 

    “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

    Verse 50:

     Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”

    That’s a very interesting direction that Jesus has given to the man. He’s not saying “Ok, let’s go.”Instead, he tells the man to go home and that his son will live. 

    And the official listens. 

    Second part of verse 50:

    The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

    A picture of faith

    He trusts in the promise of Christ. He has faith in the word that the Lord Jesus has told him. 

    We also don’t always get grand signs of what is to come. It is a matter of trusting the Lord is faithful to all that he has promised. That’s exactly what the Roman official does here. We need to take the Lord at his word. 

    Verse 51:

     As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

    John’s recording of the event is not hugely dramatic. What Jesus has said would happen happened. 

    Verse 52 into 53:

     So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”

    We see the power in the promise and word of Christ. As he was telling the father this, 20 miles away, his son was being healed. 

    Continuing in verse 53:

    And he himself believed, and all his household. 

    The man believed. 

    Faith cannot be entirely rooted on the miraculous. But that’s not to say that God never uses a monumental moment to bring a person to himself. For this man, trusting in what Jesus had told him and then seeing the fulfillment of that promise led him to believe in Jesus. 

    Not only for the man, but him and his whole household believed. It was a transformative event in all of their lives to see what Jesus had done. 

    This story is reminiscent of another healing which occurred in the Old Testament, during the ministry of Elijah. 

    Elijah in 1 Kings 17  

    In 1 Kings 17, there’s another event when a child is very sick. The prophet Elijah takes the boy and pleads with the Lord to heal him. 

    Beginning in verse 21 into 22:

    O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah.

    In verse 23, after the boy had been revived, Elijah says to the mother “your son lives.” 

    A long-distance miracle

    In our passage in John, when the Roman officer comes to Jesus, Jesus says to him “your son will live.” Elijah has to be in physical contact with the child when he is healed. Jesus heals at a distance.

    Elijah asks God to heal the boy, Jesus doesn’t. In this sign, among other things, we see that Jesus is greater than Elijah and we again see that he provides something greater than the Old Testament. 

    We see the perfect knowledge of Jesus. He knew that the son would live. 

    We also see the sovereignty of Jesus. He could speak authoritatively to the man that his son would live. 

    The second sign of Jesus 

    The passage concludes by saying: 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. 

    Jesus had done other miracles, but this was the second one he had done in Judea. In the first sign, Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast. In that event, John said that Jesus had revealed his glory through that sign. 

    In this sign, Jesus had healed a sick child near death many miles away. We see that the signs are very different from each other. The first sign is at a public event, the second sign is within a home. 

    The first sign is at a time of great joy, at a wedding feast. The second is in a very sad time, when someone is ill to the point of death. 

    In that too, his power and glory are revealed. In that event, it was so powerful in the lives of the people who witnessed it that they believed in Jesus. 

    In the second sign, Jesus heals a father’s son. But in that, we should be reminded of the gospel because the ultimate sign that Jesus did which points to his glory and power was when he had the Son was not saved. 

    Jesus was able to save this man’s son because Jesus was the Son who was not saved. 

    Looking for Jesus

    There are lots of reasons why people are drawn to religion, drawn to Christianity, drawn to Jesus. Some people think that it’ll help them through a tough time. 

    Some people are lonely or insecure and need to feel a sense of belonging. That’s not inherently wrong, by the way. But that isn’t faith. Some people are miserable, and they believe that religion might help them become happier. Others are battling an addiction and they think it’ll help them find victory. Some people are unhappy with who they’ve become, and want better examples. 

    Now, certainly any of those areas can be a person’s entry point to Christianity. And God can work through those circumstances to bring a person to himself. 

    But genuine faith needs to move past that. It can’t just be about having a certain feeling or about having a certain area of life now under control. 

    Faith needs to be rooted in the character of the Lord. Sinful people recognizing their need for redemption and trusting in Jesus and the salvation he promises. 

    If faith over the long term does not mature into a love for Christ, a recognition of sin, a love for the things of God, then what is it that you’re believing? 

    Because new problems will arise. New difficulties will arise. You’re still you, which is to say you’re still sinful. Your life will still face difficulties and hardships. We still live in a fallen and sinful world where there is betrayal, and pain, and suffering, and death. 

    “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    If faith is based on what we see, based on circumstances, that is flimsy. Our faith needs to be anchored in the good and sovereign Lord of creation. 

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  • Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-22

    Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-22

    19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
    -John 1:19-22

    Early in the Gospel of John, a group of religious leaders comes to visit an eccentric religious figure who is most often referred to as John the Baptist. They’ll ask John if he’s come to fulfill various Old Testament prophecies associated with the coming Messiah.

    Who are you?

    John 1:19: And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

    It’s reasonable that they would want to find out who he is. I think it’s important to understand the time in which they lived. For centuries, the Old Testament had pointed forward to one sent from the Lord. People had all sorts of expectations for the type of ministry that this sent one would have. 

    This was fulfilled in Jesus but people didn’t yet know Jesus. So all they had were their expectations and assumptions. What Jesus actually did was not quite what anyone expected. 

    A lot of people expected a great religious teacher. Jesus certainly was that but he was ore than that. But his purpose was to bring freedom not law. A lot of people expected a great king. Jesus is that too, he’s the king of kings. But he did not have the mighty earthly kingdom that people expected. Others expected a great general who would lead Israel to victory and back to a restoration of their land in the face of Roman oppression. Jesus is the one who leads his people to battle evil and leads us to Spiritual victory. 

    And people believed various ideas from those categories. 

    So you suddenly have this man who’s calling people to repent, who’s baptizing. In the other gospels, we see John calling out religious authorities.

    And so people are curious. 

    Maybe he’s connected to the promised savior. Maybe he IS the promised savior. Others might have been skeptical and thought it would lead nowhere. 

    Before Jesus, there had been people who claimed to be the promised savior of the world. 

    “Who are you?”

    They ask. 

    Are you the Christ?

    John’s first response to the Jewish leaders is given in verse 20: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    First thing John confirms. He is not the savior. One thing that’s important to understand. The word “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It’s his title. 

    Jesus’ parents were not Joseph and Mary Christ. 

    Jesus is The Christ. 

    Christ comes from the Greek word “Christus” which means “anointed.” It’s the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” They both mean the same thing: anointed. 

    The significance of that is that in the Old Testament, various divinely assigned offices such as the king and the high priest would be anointed with oil at the beginning of their term. Some of the Old Testament prophets were also anointed. 

    There are also passages in the Old Testament which were understood as pointing forward to a future deliverer who was anointed. John the Baptist had an important ministry. 

    But he was not the Lord’s anointed, he was not the Lord’s Christ, and so he’s quick to point that out. He’s not the anointed savior. 

    Verse 21:And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

    Are you Elijah?

    Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament. 

    Much of his ministry revolved around calling people to faith and proper worship of the Lord. 

    He was obedient to the Lord in his life and ministry. 

    There are several miracles that God does during the time of Elijah’s ministry. 

    Two more things that are noteworthy about Elijah. 

    The Old Testament tells us that God brought Elijah directly to heaven without dying. 

    2 Kings 2:11: And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven

    Secondly, the book of Malachi, which is the last book found in our Old Testament concludes with these verses from Malachi 4:5: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

    So God says that he will send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. 

    So some expected a literal second coming of Elijah. For those reasons, it’s a pretty reasonable question for the leaders to have asked this of John. 

    He tells them no. 

    John is not Elijah however it should be noted that John’s ministry is really fulfilling this prophecy about Elijah. John is not a reincarnated version of Elijah or a second coming of Elijah, but he is the one who is sent from the Lord with a divinely given ministry to call people to repentance. 

    But John confirms that he is not Elijah. 

    So they try again: 

    Are you the prophet?

    Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

    When they ask John if he’s THE prophet, they’re actually referring to a specific passage. Deuteronomy 18:15 tells Israel about a successor to Moses. This passage also came to be understood as pointing to a grater prophet. 

    Verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

    They wonder if John is this person. In reality, that passage is ultimately pointing forward to Jesus. But once again, John answers the question in the negative. He is not the prophet. 

     So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

    John isn’t the Christ, he’s not Elijah, he’s not the prophet. 

    So then who is he? Continue reading.

    Thanks for reading! If you liked, please share and subscribe.